By now, we should’ve already seen A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in 2024 and been bracing ourselves for the heartbreaks that await in House of the Dragon’s third season in 2025. But strikes and production delays reshaped the timeline — and both series will now arrive in 2026. The good news? One of them, at least, is set to debut as early as January.

If this long wait — the long night — is finally coming to an end, the first real sign comes from New York. With Comic Con days away, anticipation grows that HBO will finally unveil the first footage of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The exclusive Entertainment Weekly feature is already a clear omen: something is coming.

A New Tone for Westeros

“Four pages for Ser Duncan? He must have been quite a man,” King Joffrey Baratheon remarked in Game of Thrones, flipping through the Book of Brothers, the chronicle of the Kingsguard. “So they say,” Jaime Lannister replied.

Those pages were, until now, just a whispered promise within the Game of Thrones canon. HBO decided to finally open them. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is precisely that — the story of Dunk the Tall, the wandering knight who became a legend, and Egg, the boy who followed him across a world still haunted by dragons long gone.

A World Without Magic

The story unfolds about 90 years before Game of Thrones and roughly 50 years after the Targaryen civil war depicted in House of the Dragon. It’s an age when dragons have vanished and magic lingers only as rumor. “No one’s thinking about magic anymore,” says showrunner Ira Parker. “It’s basically 14th-century Britain — cold, hard, but with a hint of hope.”

Its hero, Ser Duncan the Tall (played by Irish actor Peter Claffey), is a former street urchin from Flea Bottom who once squired for a hedge knight, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb). When his master dies, Dunk dons his armor and knights himself, setting off across Westeros with little more than courage and decency. On his way, he meets Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), a bald-headed, bright-eyed boy who insists on becoming his squire.

From Page to Screen

Season one adapts The Hedge Knight (1998), the first of George R. R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, followed by The Sworn Sword (2003) and The Mystery Knight (2010). With only six episodes, the series embraces a smaller, more personal scale — a story of knights, honor, and ideals, told through the eyes of the common folk.

Ryan Condal, co-creator of House of the Dragon, calls it “a lone wolf and cub story told on a vast canvas,” a counterpoint to the grand scheming of the Great Houses. “The Dunk and Egg tales always struck me as the antidote to Westeros’ aristocracy,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s the story of those who suffer the game of thrones, not those who play it.”

The Ashford Tourney and the Echo of the Targaryens

At the Ashford Meadow tourney, where Dunk seeks to prove his worth, a vivid cast comes to life: the blacksmith Steely Pate (Youssef Kerkour), the Dornish puppeteer Tanselle “Too-Tall” (Tanzyn Crawford), the boisterous Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) — and, inevitably, the Targaryens.

Prince Baelor “Breakspear” (Bertie Carvel), his brother Maekar (Sam Spruell), and the cruel Aerion “Brightflame” (Finn Bennett) arrive in an attempt to restore a dynasty’s fading prestige. “Fifty years without dragons puts everything in perspective,” Parker notes. “People are starting to ask: why are we still letting them rule?”

A Simple Heart in a Grand World

Behind the scenes, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms unites familiar names: George R. R. Martin and Ira Parker co-wrote and co-created the series, alongside executive producers Ryan Condal, Vince Gerardis, and Owen Harris (Black Mirror), who directs half of the season. Sarah Adina Smith (Lessons in Chemistry) helms the rest.

Martin, more restrained in his comments on House of the Dragon, publicly praised this new spinoff. In his blog, he wrote that he “loved” all six episodes — a rare statement from him.

Parker admits that scrapping the traditional title sequence was the hardest, yet most meaningful decision. “This isn’t a saga about kingdoms or monsters,” he says. “It’s about a simple man and a boy who change the world without realizing it. We have one character — and a lot of heart.”

That’s precisely what makes A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms one of the most anticipated returns to Westeros: not through the blood of dragons, but through the dignity of those who walk beneath their fading shadow.